Labels

In most magnificent sermon, Cardinal Müller denounces nihilism and proclaims Christ as the only salvation


 

Closing Mass of the ISSEP Summer Course in El Escorial: Müller denounces nihilism and proclaims Christ as the only salvation

San Lorenzo de El Escorial, July 20 – In the homily of the closing Mass of the ISSEP Summer Course, celebrated in the Basilica of the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, delivered a profoundly theological and pastoral message, centered on the centrality of Christ as the only Saviour and on the mission of the Church as the sacrament of salvation in the midst of a secularized culture.

The Eucharist, celebrated with solemn recollection, brought together the course participants and numerous faithful. In his homily, Cardinal Müller clearly outlined the spiritual drama of today's society: "A civilization that denies its roots and rejects the Incarnate Word is doomed to meaninglessness, violence, and dehumanization." Faced with this panorama, he proclaimed Christian hope: "Faith is the only force that truly transforms reality."

Müller warned against contemporary nihilism, a consciousness "locked within its limits," incapable of opening itself to transcendence, trapped in ideological slogans. He denounced the advance of totalitarian ideologies, godless humanism, and transhumanism, which seek to redefine humanity apart from its Creator.

In the face of these dangers, the Cardinal proclaimed the greatness of the Church as a universal path of salvation, recalling St. Leo the Great: "What was visible in Christ has passed into the sacraments of the Church." Sacramental life, he noted, is not a mere ritual, but a living experience of Grace that transforms man from within, reconciles him with God, and gives him meaning:

“The Eucharist, the real presence of Christ, is not a subjective symbolic representation, but the space where we find our identity and mission: to spend ourselves and give our lives for others.”

The cardinal emphasized that living as a Christian is the opposite of passivity and consumerism: it is being truly free, capable of loving, working meaningfully, forming a family, and aspiring to excellence in ordinary life. “We are called to holiness and fulfillment in Christ,” he affirmed.

In his final message, Müller exhorted the faithful to live in communion with Christ and with one another, and to proclaim the Gospel without fear:

“The world has been, is, and always will be a complex web. But Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He reveals to us who God is for us, and who we are for God. Only in Him do we find the answer to our searches.”

“May our European nations recognize Christianity as their only salvation, their only life,” he concluded.

Post-Conference

After the liturgical celebration, Cardinal Müller gave a lecture to the ISSEP students in which he developed, with theological and philosophical rigor, some of the ideas expressed in his homily, addressing the challenges the Church faces today in the face of relativism, technocratic power, and the anthropological crisis of the contemporary world.

What does our society today, globalized and secularized, propose?

A civilization that denies its roots and its sources, refusing to decipher the Word who became incarnate to save the world, as the sole mediator between God and humanity. This civilization is doomed to meaninglessness, violence, and dehumanization. Where does this nihilism of today's conscience come from? Enclosed within its narrow limits, a prisoner of its schemes and slogans, incapable of opening itself to the unattainable newness of God.

It has been known at times as the heart that animated the entire society, and at other times as a banner contested even in the skin of the bloody martyr: the Church, as the house and people of God, has always been the sign of hope and the universal sacrament of salvation in Christ. As Saint Leo the Great would say: what was visible in Christ has passed into the sacraments of the Church, into the Church of Sacraments.

The Church's internal sacramental logic, inscribed in Trinitarian revelation, has built a people of free children of God. Indeed, the divine Word and Grace have been the great antidote against any attempt at manipulation, at reducing the person to a random individual or an ideological species, or at absorption in the game of power; against any totalitarian ideology.

The Sacraments, celebrated in the liturgy of the Church, not only refer to the Lord God, to the Lord Jesus Christ, who speaks and acts through them, who allows himself to be touched and loved, but they also transform every person, with their history, their relationships, their projects, their desires. The liturgy speaks to us into eternity.

By participating in the sacramental life of the Church, we joyfully discover that we are creatures in the image and likeness of the Creator, called to know how to live the divine in our flesh.

The Eucharist itself, the real presence of Christ, the sacrament of his Sacrifice, continually introduces us to a new experience of gratitude and grace. It is not a simple subjective symbolic representation, but the space in which we find our identity and mission: to spend ourselves and give our lives for others for our happiness, joy, and peace. We recognize in it the mysterious presence that, we know, will respond to our most intimate concerns.

We discover ourselves driven to love and embrace love. Living as a Christian is the complete opposite of the immobility, banality, and paralysis caused by the constant offer of new stimuli, particularly in today's vast marketplace, which recognizes us only as potential consumers.

To live Christianly is the exact opposite: it is to be treated as persons who, freely, immerse themselves, from baptism, in the sacramental experience, discovering with surprise, in the Church, all that is truly just and good. This experience will forever sustain their destiny. A Christian admires a true marital relationship, marriage, family, relationships of authentic friendship, fulfilling work, a time of joy that builds an ideal that reminds us: We are called to excellence!

Faith is the only force that truly transforms reality. When the Risen Lord announces the conversion of sinners and the forgiveness of sins, the good news, announced along the roads of Galilee, receives a new understanding: it is an offer of boundless merciful forgiveness. The apostles proclaimed, in season and out of season, that there is a Truth underlying all reality, called to fulfill the Lord's original plan, which was obscured by sin. However, faith sustains us because of the merits and cardinal qualities of those called to share in the Lord's intimacy. This is witnessed only in the name and with the authority of the Lord.

The proclamation of the Gospel—with victories over evil and sin, like military victories over the enemy, with great reforms that have renewed the fresh life of the entire people—has never been the result of lengthy political negotiations, diplomatic games, or the self-interested calculations of cowards. It has been the fruit of the courageous and determined witness of people aware of their human limitations and that the Lord had been praying for them to the point of taking pity on their sins.

Christ, through the communion of love with the Father in the Spirit, bore witness to his communion with the Father, his experience of God. Therefore, he professed the demonstrated faith, a space that was eternal life for us. And as a natural consequence of this, we too bear witness, in the midst of the world, that God has loved us unconditionally and reconciled us with Him and with one another.

To profess the Christian faith is to live communion within a people of true brothers and sisters. To believe is to necessarily become missionaries and witnesses of Christ. Ideological limitations and the hostile opposition of disbelief that besieges us no longer matter: we count on the people of the powerful works that the Church accomplishes today. What matters is being faithful to the trust placed in us and being willing to wage a battle against Evil, against sin, against godless humanism, and against the transhumanism that fights against human dignity.

We are not naive. We know that the world has been, is, and always will be a complex web of interests, of sometimes unspeakable passions, of experiences that oscillate between human triumph and failure. Instead, reason is discovered through faith as a direction, as a free assent to what is seen and experienced, without any censorship. Beyond being a mere calculation, measure, or instrument, reason, illuminated by Christ with his doctrine linked to faith, is empowered.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life,” says the Lord. He not only announces and proclaims the Truth to us: He is the definitive revelation, the truth and the life in his divine person. He tells us who God is for us and who we are for Him. He, definitively unveiling the veil, reveals to us the most intimate reality of God, inviting us to trust and abandonment, to enter into his person and thus discover the only Truth.

Another part of Him is also Life, that is, our fullness, our well-being, our peace, the answer to our quests. The union of those opposites that denied and disunited us. For all this, He is opening our way to God, our point of orientation. Our arrival, our assurance that we are never left to the mercy of life's circumstances, or even left to ourselves.

May our European homelands and all humanity recognise Christianity, at last, as their only salvation, their only life. Jesus knows that his beloved disciples will have to face new conditions and the continuous attack of the Evil One. He also knows that division will always be the Devil's tactic. That is why the Lord invites Christians, his disciples, to form one body with him. For He is the head of the Church.

As witnesses of Christ and knowers of God, we proclaim a just communion, a real brotherhood, a love that fills hearts. We are, dear brothers and sisters, called to assume our responsibility towards human society and, beyond the prevailing political or ideological interests, to place ourselves at the service of our fellow citizens, so that all may have eternal life.

In the faith of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the only Saviour of the world. Amen.

Source

Email Post
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment